The Blog

Will your library take the MHLS Thanksgiving Challenge? The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are an ideal time to encourage library stakeholders in your community to speak up for your library by writing letters to the editor of local papers and sharing posts on their Facebook pages expressing their thankfulness for the library.

The MHLS Thanksgiving Challenge asks each member library and Friends Group to:

Find at least two people to write a letter to the editor or an editorial about how your library adds value to the community.

Encourage your Facebook fans to share their love of the library through their Facebook posts – generating electronic word-of-mouth is just as valuable as good old fashioned word-of-mouth! Check out our special supplement, “Quotables, Graphics & Inspiration,” to this week’s MHLS Bulletin for ideas and a headstart!

Challenge accepted? Then let’s get started! Prepare yourself to help others help your library:

Use the Library Value Calculator from the American Library Association (ALA) to provide dollar figures and talking points that help translate a community’s return on investment http://bit.ly/WOUW3R This provides eye catching statistics that your supporters can use in their letters and posts.

Make good use of the brand new Libraries Transform Toolkit from the American Library Association Check out their “10 Ways to Engage” tip sheet http://www.librariestransform.org/toolkit/

Last time around the Philmont Library “won” the challenge with close to half a dozen letters to the editor and fantastic levels of engagement on their Facebook page by asking why people were thankful for their library. Think you can beat that? We bet you can!

Be sure to send in links to letters that appear (or copies) and screen captures of your patrons Facebook declarations to Rebekkah @MHLS: rsmith@midhudson.org